prayer beads

Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who prays. ~Søren Kierkegaard

Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God. ~Author Unknown

During my recent trip, I became fascinated by prayer beads. I kept my eyes open for some beads I liked as I travelled but I never found any I loved in my price range. I did find these lovely silver ones but I couldn't justify the price.

When I returned home, I began to look into the use of prayer beads. Many faiths (Muslim, Buddhists, Bahai, Sikh, Catholic, Anglican, Hindu and Orthodox Christians) use beads during prayer. Each beads represents a request or praise to God. Whether in meditation or repetition, the beads focus the person praying on the task at hand. Perhaps that is why the beads fascinate me. During times I dedicate to prayer, my mind wanders to a thousand other things so to have a tool to focus prayer appealed to me.

The beads are made from pretty much any type of material and the number of beads vary anywhere between 19 and 108. A couple weeks ago, I found some beads I loved. I decided on 33 beads - 30 around the inner circle and 3 hanging down from the loop. 33 beads are used for Muslim, Orthodox and Anglican prayer beads. 33 is also the age of Christ at his death.

Whether it is listening or speaking to God, people of many faiths earnestly seek God. And that gives me hope.

I stumbled across this "reverse" prayer on the weekend. It made me smile.

Good morning, this is God. I will be taking care of all your problems today. I will not need your help so have a good time. I love you.

To that I say amen.